VAL DI FIEMME, Italy – Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo secured his ninth Winter Olympic gold medal on Sunday, anchoring the Norwegian team to victory in the cross-country skiing 4x10km relay at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Games. The win surpasses the previous record of eight golds held jointly by compatriot Bjørn Dæhlie, and fellow skiers Marit Bjørgen of Norway and Ole Einar Bjørndalen.
Klæbo’s performance comes after he equaled the previous record on Friday with a win in the men’s 10km interval start free, and followed his opening gold in the skiathlon earlier in the Games. France finished second in the relay, while Italy took the bronze medal.
The Norwegian quartet, comprised of Emil Iversen, Martin Nyenget, Einar Hedegart, and Klæbo, led the race from the outset. Klæbo, as the final leg skier, managed the team’s advantage effectively, avoiding risks and securing the gold.
With this fourth gold medal at the Milano-Cortina Games, Klæbo is now within reach of a historic “Grand Slam” – winning all six cross-country events at a single Winter Olympics. He achieved a similar clean sweep at the 2025 FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Trondheim, Norway, where he claimed all six world titles.
“I look forward to getting started and then we’ll see if it’s possible to do what we did in Trondheim. It’s hard to tell right now,” Klæbo said, according to reporting from fis-ski.com. “We need to have a bit of luck as well. We need to have good skis and the shape needs to be at its very best. I hope I’ve done my preparations right and that my shape is good.”
The Canadian team, featuring Xavier McKeever, Antoine Cyr, Remi Drolet, and Tom Stephen, finished fifth with a cumulative time of 1 hour, 5 minutes, and 36.8 seconds.
Two events remain on the cross-country skiing schedule: the team sprint on Wednesday and the 50km race on Saturday, both to be held in Val di Fiemme. Klæbo is widely considered the favorite in both.
